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Energy source discovered for cancer cell division
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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Scientists have discovered that cancer cells have a recycling system to produce energy, which they use in further division. The researchers used genetic manipulation to turn off this system in the cell walls, stopping tumor growth and metastasis. The results were published online in Science Translational Medicine.
Scientists knew that cancer cells required large amounts of energy in the form of glucose to continually fuel their abnormally rapid growth. But it was unclear how cancer cells met these energy needs. The study showed that cancer cells grew by accelerating the process of autophagy, which occurs in cellular compartments called lysosomes.
During autophagy, which literally means "self-eating," lysosomes digest worn-out proteins and other damaged cellular components. "But lysosomes are not just garbage bins," said study author Ana Maria Cuervo. "They are more like small recycling factories that turn cellular waste products into energy. Cancer cells seem to have learned to optimize this system to produce the energy they need to grow."
Dr. Cuervo and her colleagues found unusually high levels of autophagy in cells from 40 types of human tumors. No such process was observed in healthy cells surrounding the tumors.
"When we used genetic manipulation to block the activity of this processing, the cancer cells stopped dividing and most of them died," Cuervo said.
The researchers believe that selectively blocking autophagy in cancer cells could be a promising strategy for killing tumors and stopping metastasis. In future studies, the scientists hope to develop drugs that mimic what the scientists did through genetic manipulation.
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